By roundcat on

I am completely lost. I cant open the tar file, I dont understand the instructions and am very frustrated - how can they make such a non user friendly space? You'd think they would explain things clearly and not have so much tech style explanations for things... I was planning on paying for this but its just insanely confusing. Are there other alternatives? Word Press? I want a business site that is static and not blogged style.

Comments

joe4’s picture

joe4 commented

Did you read this?
http://drupal.org/getting-started/5/install/download

fridaythe14th’s picture

fridaythe14th commented

Installing it is fairly easy imo. I use winrar to untar when on windows. The instructions above should work on unix systems. Then just set up a virtualhost and point it to the drupal folder. Go to the host in your browser and follow the instructions.

kayaker’s picture

kayaker commented

I suspect that this may not be a problem with Drupal.

Did you begin at Getting Started?

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Aweigh - not all who wander are lost.

Jeff Burnz’s picture

Jeff Burnz commented

Wordpress is not an alternative for you, it is first and foremost a blogging platform. You can build a static-like site with it (as you can with Drupal) and in any case you're going to face the same installation issues with WP and almost any other open source CMS.

Many webhosting accounts come with "site builder wizards" for knocking up static sites, you could also try Googling that term for other options.

I would think that almost everyone is totally lost at some stage, but it does help if you title your forum threads with something more specific, such as "need help with installation".

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WorldFallz’s picture

WorldFallz commented

There are MANY places the installation procedure is documented:

...was planning on paying for this...

There's nothing to pay for-- it's not a free trial, it's just free.

Are there other alternatives?

Many. Though most will require some level of technical knowledge. Building a website is not like creating a word document. Not yet anyway. In all seriousness (i swear i'm not being a smart @ss)-- if you can't figure out how to unzip the download, you're probably looking at the wrong product. You should probably take a look at one of the automated site builder type tools offered by many web hosts. Another option might be joomla, but even that will require a basic level of knowledge.

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Drupalace-1’s picture

Drupalace-1 commented

Other commenters have hit the great resources available to get started, so you should have plenty to work with. (I have some additional admin resources at my site (URL below), but nothing that covers the actual initial installation, so my stuff wouldn't be a help to you until a slightly later stage.)

Google a bit, and you should even find video tutorials taking you through installation.

Another option, of course, is this: Hire someone to do the installation for you. Installation is a one-time job, so it may be worth it to just let a pro do it. After that, with the help of various admin resources out there, you may find the job of content creation and administration of a running site to be more pleasant than getting a site started.

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Easy Drupal Admin Manual, Drupal questions, other stuff for the newbie: http://www.drupalace.com